About the Journal

History of the Journal

The Agroecosistemas Scientific Journal emerge as an initiative of the Vice-principalship for Research and Postgraduate Studies and the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences to socialize, with a biannual frequently, the results of scientific, technological and innovative work that contribute to the conceptualization of various problems of agrarian transformation of agroecosystems, a leading role in solving the problem of food security in the country from the need to achieve the adaptability and mitigation of environmental changes.

Since more than 20 years, we have had agricultural careers in the province, but today, in addition we have a Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and the scientific work of a Center of Studies with more than 10 years of experience in research in Sustainable Agricultural Transformation (CETAS).

We have carried out an analysis of the continuous improvement of the journal in order to advance in the level of rigor, recognition and international visibility, for which it is proposed a set of standardizations and fundamental changes that are presented in the project.

In this year (2018) the journal changed its frequency from semester to quarterly and publishes its three issues of the year in April, August and December.

Approach and scope

To socialize the scientific technological and innovative work in the solution of the problem of food security from the experiences that occur in Cuba and the World to achieve the adaptability and mitigation of environmental changes.

Peer Evaluation Process

All articles published in Revista Científica Agroecosistemas are previously submitted for review by its director and editor. Subsequently, they are sent to two content experts, depending on the subject they approach, who evaluate them using the Open Peer Review method, to comply with the philosophy of the Open Science movement.

Review Guarantee

Authors must submit their article with their personal information (name and last name, email address, ORCID code, academic affiliation and country).

Phases of the evaluation process of an article

Phase 1: sending of the original.

Phase 2: assessment by the editorial team of the journal of the document received; it is analyzed with anti-plagiarism software (Urkund) and it is decided if the work is reviewed by experts or if it is discarded, either for formal or content reasons.

Phase 3: evaluation of the original by two experts in the relevant subject area.

The editor or director sends the original to two experts of the content, with a copy to the authors, who will know who their reviewers are. Experts are asked to consider the following: adequacy of work to the subject; presentation and writing of the text; originality and interest of the content; description of the central theme of the investigation; exposition of the theoretical-conceptual framework; adequacy of the methodology used; presentation and analysis of the results and conclusions; relevance of bibliographic references; and adequacy of tables and figures.

The journal offers instructions and a form, which allows reviewers to evaluate the quality and relevance of the articles.

Phase 4: exchange and consensus between authors and / or reviewers.

Phase 5: sending the result of the evaluation to those responsible for the journal.

The reviewers will issue a single document with the opinion and send it to the editor of the journal and to the authors, who, in correspondence with the information given, will make the decision and decide whether the work should be sent to a third reviewer, when rejected by one of them; in this case, the director has the power to accept the article or not.

Acceptance: an article is approved if the result of the evaluation is positive and the editorial team considers that there is no need to request any changes from the authors.

Non-acceptance: an article is rejected if the result of one or both evaluations is negative.

Modifications are required: the author must correct the suggested changes to be published with the required quality.

In case the author suggests a possible reviewer for the article, the journal reserves the right to take that recommendation into consideration or not.

Phase 6: socialization of the edition.

The edition is made available to the scientific community and readers and other authors will issue criteria about published articles, which will be taken into account for the publication of other contributions of the same or other authors.

Editorial process

The Revista Científica Agroecosistemas uses the Open Journal System (OJS), which automates this procedure, for the management of the editorial process.

It develops as follows:

1. The author sends the manuscript to Revista Científica Agroecosistemas. The sending should always be through the platform:

• It must be registered on the Journal website: http://aes.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/aes, https://universosur.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/en/revistas or at http://www.ucf.edu.cu

• Before uploading the article, you are asked to make certain confirmations (declaration of authorship and originality, declaration of exclusivity, conflicts of interest, approval of publication as Open Access, etc.).

2. Before sending the file definitively, it is necessary for the authors to verify that they have introduced the metadata properly placed on the platform.

Note: Files uploaded to the platform must not exceed 3Mb in weight.

If so, the authors must send it via email to: aes@ucf.edu.cu, indicating the article to which they belong. The editor will be responsible for notifying its receipt and incorporating it into the documentation of the article.

3. The author will receive confirmation of the receipt of the article within 5 days of being sent. In the period of one month from the reception, the Revista Científica Agroecosistemas has the obligation to give an answer to its authors in relation to:

• Admission of work and submission for evaluation by experts.

• If there is a rejection by the Editorial Board before the article is submitted for evaluation, if it is considered to have formal or thematic deficiencies important enough to stop with the procedure.

• The need of making essential formal changes before passing to evaluation by experts.

Scientific Journal Agroecosystems undertakes to strictly follow the recommendations made by its evaluators.

4. Regarding the positions of the reviewers, the following criteria will be followed:

• If the two evaluators agree on what is coming from the publication, it will be informed in a single document.

• If both experts make a negative judgment, the article will be rejected.

• If there is a discrepancy, a third evaluator will be consulted to decide their approval or the editor will decide.

• If the evaluators consider necessary changes, a second version will be requested from the authors. The decision on this version will be decisive to issue a final judgment.

Once its publication is confirmed, the Revista Científica Agroecosistemas may issue certificates to the authors regarding the publication of their article if they so request. Otherwise, they will be issued after the publication of the corresponding edition.

5. The article will be corrected. The proofreader will send the galleys to the author in pdf format.

Once the modifications have been made by the authors, they can send it via email, within a Word document.

When there is more than one author, the corrected article will be sent only to the person who indicated the group when they sent the original version and the communication will be with it, unless the Director and / or Editor are indicated. The proofreader will receive back a single document with all the requested changes. In any case the article may be modified, so that the final version approved by the evaluators changes.

Statement of Ethic and Good Manners

The editorial team of Revista Científica Agroecosistemas is committed to the scientific community in guaranteeing the ethics and quality of the published articles, based on the code of conduct and good practices that the Ethics Committee in Publications (COPE) defines for editors of scientific journals.

Commitments of the authors

•Originality and plagiarism: Authors who submit manuscripts to the University and Society Journal must ensure that the work is original and does not contain, in whole or in part, the contents of other authors. In addition, they must confirm that the empirical data obtained to verify the hypothesis have not been modified.

•Multiple and / or repetitive publications: the author may not publish articles in more than one scientific journal, where he shows the same results. The simultaneous submission of the same contribution to other journals is considered ethically incorrect.

•List of sources: The author must correctly quote the sources and contributions mentioned in the article.

•Authorship: Authors must guarantee the inclusion of those who have made a contribution to the work. It is also necessary for the authors to rank, according to their level of responsibility and involvement in their preparation.

•Access and retention: The authors of the articles must make available to the editors, if necessary, the sources or data used in the research, which can be kept for a period of time and made accessible.

•Conflict of interests and disclosure: All authors are required to declare that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results obtained. The authors must also indicate any funding received for the development of the research.

•Errors in published articles: When an author identifies an error or inaccuracy in his article, he must immediately inform the editors of the journal and provide them with all the necessary information for the corrections.

•Responsibility: All authors must accept responsibility for what has been written and that they have carried out a review of the most important scientific literature on the analyzed subject, based on the use of all current knowledge.

Commitments of the reviewers

•Contribution to the editorial decision: Peer review helps publishers to make decisions about the proposed articles. It also allows the author to improve the work submitted for publication. The reviewers assume the commitment to perform a critical and constructive analysis of the scientific quality of the contribution, in the field of their knowledge and skills.

•Respect for the term time: The reviewer who does not feel competent in the subject matter addressed in the article that has been sent to him or who cannot finish the evaluation at the scheduled term time must immediately notify the editors. The reviewers agree to evaluate the work in the stipulated term time.

•Confidentiality: Each assigned manuscript must be considered confidential. Therefore, these texts should not be discussed with other people without the express consent of the editors. In this way, it will only be analyzed, based on the Open Peer review, by the assigned reviewers and by the authors.

•Objectivity: The peer review will be conducted objectively. No personal judgment on the authors of the contributions is considered adequate. Reviewers are required to give reasons about their assessments. The reviewers will submit a complete critical report with appropriate references according to the revision protocol established by la Revista Científica Agroecosistemas and the established regulations. They are required to warn publishers if substantial parts of the work have already been published or are under review for another publication.

•Text visualization: The reviewers agree to indicate the bibliographical sources of important works that have not been used by the author. They must also inform the editors of any similarity of the manuscript with other works published by the author or other authors.

•Conflict of interests and disclosure: The information obtained during the peer review process must be considered confidential and cannot be used for personal purposes. The reviewers only review a manuscript if there are no conflicts of interest.

Editors Commitments

•Publication decision: The editors will guarantee the selection of the most qualified reviewers to issue a critical assessment of the work, with the least possible bias. la Revista Científica Agroecosistemas chooses to select 2 or 3 reviewers for each work so as to ensure greater objectivity in the review process; It also implements the Open Peer Review method, to comply with the philosophy of the Open Science movement.

•Honesty: The editors evaluate the articles sent for publication based on scientific merit without discrimination of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, nationality and the political opinion of the authors.

•Confidentiality: The editors and the members of the working group undertake not to disclose the information of the articles sent for publication to other people, other than authors, reviewers and editors. The editors and the Editorial Committee commit themselves to the confidentiality of the manuscripts, their authors and reviewers.

• Conflict of interests and disclosure: The editors agree not to use the contents of the articles submitted for publication without the authors' consent.

•Respect for the term time: The editors are responsible for the fulfillment of the term time established for the reviews and the publication of the accepted works, to ensure a rapid dissemination of their results. Likewise, the works will not remain accepted without being published pending beyond the term time just for publication.